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Wednesday, July 4
Waltrip 'haunted' by Earnhardt's death
Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It took 15 long years and 462
agonizing defeats for Michael Waltrip to find the winner's circle.
But Dale Earnhardt's death has kept him from enjoying that
breakthrough victory.
|  | | Michael Waltrip lost his car owner -- and a good friend -- when Dale Earnhardt was killed in a wreck at Daytona. |
Waltrip won for the only time in his career in February, taking
the checkered flag in the biggest of all NASCAR races -- the Daytona
500. A half-mile behind him, his friend and boss was killed when
his car crashed into the wall.
The death of NASCAR's icon forever spoiled Waltrip's crowning
moment and put his celebration on hold.
Now, as Waltrip returns to Daytona International Speedway for
Saturday's Pepsi 400, emotions will be running high. But Waltrip
isn't sure how he'll feel when he walks through the tunnel and sees
the track that brought him both glory and heartache.
"My emotions kind of bounce all over the place on a day-to-day
basis," he said. "For me to say that I won't feel any special
emotions or different emotions wouldn't be true. I'm sure it will
be weird."
On Wednesday, the track held Michael Waltrip Day to celebrate
his win in the 500. The celebration is typically held the day after
the race, but was postponed because of Earnhardt's death.
So Waltrip was forced to put on a smile and commemorate the
victory without The Intimidator, the man who made it possible.
Looking for a driver last winter to start a third team at Dale
Earnhardt Inc., he picked Waltrip, long considered the best driver
never to have won a Winston Cup race.
Earnhardt said he was certain Waltrip would turn his career
around.
"Why he hasn't won a race yet is circumstantial," Earnhardt
said in October. "He has a lot of credits to his name and the mix
is there, so he is definitely going to be a winner."
Earnhardt never got to see his prediction come true, crashing on
the final turn of the final lap before Waltrip crossed the finish
line. But Earnhardt briefly saw success at a point in the race when
all three of his drivers -- Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve
Park -- were running 1-2-3.
Waltrip, who wound up beating Earnhardt Jr. to the line, would
like to duplicate that feat Saturday night as a way of honoring the
seven-time series champion.
"It would be such a tribute," Waltrip said. "I think the way
that we look at it is everybody is going to be thinking about him
anyway, so it would be great for the fans and for this
organization.
"For us drivers, to just say, `We're all thinking about you
Dale and this is how it wound up,' that would be the greatest
feeling in the whole world, even if I was third."
But that would be a stretch considering the way Waltrip has run
since Daytona. He hasn't had a single top-10 finish. In fact, with
13 consecutive finishes of 20th or worse, he has plummeted to 28th
in the series standings.
There are a variety of reasons for the slide, which led last
month to the firing of crew chief Scott Eggleston.
Steve Hmiel, director of motorsports and technical operations at
DEI, has temporarily taken over the crew-chief duties. His biggest
challenge has been to repair Waltrip's confidence, which he tries
to do as a soothing voice in his ear on race day.
"I don't think anyone realized how much Dale Earnhardt's death
affected Michael," Hmiel said. "He was so much more to Michael
than his boss. He was his longtime friend, like a brother almost,
and I think his death has haunted Michael on the track at times.
"The biggest thing now is to remind Michael during the race
that he's a good driver and he's going to turn this around."
Ty Norris, general manager of DEI, believes winning the 500 gave
Waltrip and the rest of the team too many expectations.
"Because of our early success, I think we all had the audacity
to believe we weren't going to struggle the way a first-year team
struggles," Norris said. "But like so many new teams, we've been
brought back down the hard way."
So, with the addition of Hmiel and time helping to heal the
wounds from Earnhardt's death, Waltrip is hoping to end his slump
and honor his friend over the second half of the season.
"I was so excited about driving for Dale, it was just the best
feeling in the whole world that I was going to get his attention
and his knowledge and experience to lead our team," Waltrip said.
"I never got it, so that messed with me for a while.
"But I'm good now. I think you have to get tough and I think
I've been able to do that." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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